Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, has warned Manchester City that they have
some way to go before they can emulate his Invincibles team of 2003/04 ahead
of their Carling Cup quarter-final meeting.

City, who currently sit atop the Premier League table with a five-point advantage over Manchester United, are the clear favourites to win the league title in May and have already been talked about as the team to emulate Wenger's Invincibles.

Wenger, though, has told Roberto Mancini, the City manager, that fighting for honours on all four fronts can take its toll.

"You have to go through the whole winter when you play in the Champions League. We did that.," said Wenger.

"In the FA Cup as well, the semi-finals of the Champions League [Arsenal actually lost in the quarter-finals to Chelsea]. To do that together is very difficult.

"It [an unbeaten league campaign] looks unlikely, but you never know. You can never really doubt.

"However, in the modern game you need a bit of luck. Watching the game against Liverpool they could have been beaten.

"We want to get as close as possible to them and it is important to beat them."

Wenger added that, after spending over £300 million on players following the takeover of the club by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Arsenal find it difficult to match City. "Financially it is impossible to compete with them," he said. "On the football pitch it is possible. Our squad has more experience and I am confident we can show that.

"We are still a young team. The success of this club is based on the development of young players and we still want to show that."

Samir Nasri could make a return to the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night when the two teams meet following his acrimonious £24 million move to City during the summer transfer window. Wenger, though, said he holds no grudges.

"I hope Samir gets a good reception," he said.

"I don't know if he will play but personally I want every player who has played for us to be respected when they come back.

"Samir improved tremendously while he was with us. He has developed fantastically well from a non-scoring player to a guy who could make a decision."

Wenger added: "When we didn't reach an agreement over a new contract I prepared myself to face it [Nasri's departure].

"But maybe more it was more a conjunction of Fabregas and Nasri that got more publicity."